Poll Favorite Legacy Guest Stars (with poll)

[Michael]

Now Lower Decks has sadly come to an untimely end, it’s fun to look back at the long list of special guest stars from previous Trek productions they were able to get on the show during its five season run.

I’m curious who people consider to be the most successful of these legacy castings. Whose voice was the most fun to hear again? Or which character were you most happy to revisit once more? Please vote for as many as you like. And if you’re so inclined, please tell us why.

I’m going by this list of special guest stars from Wikipedia, which I hope doesn’t leave out anyone. (Mind you, this does not include visual cameos — so sadly no Armus, Okona, Tuvok or Shelby. )

And just for fun I also created a visual aid, in case a particular appearance isn’t as fresh in your memory anymore …

EDIT Dec 31, 2024: Updated the list with a handful of even more actors returning to Trek for Lower Decks.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Gotta go with Jolene and Alfre for the top of my list.

 

[fireproof78]

T'Pol and Paris.

 

[Cyfa]

I was surprised and overjoyed to see/hear most of these actors/characters again. I think the biggest surprise for me was either Alice Krige, George Takei, Alfre Woodard and/or Jolene (out of the four, Alice Krige's Borg Queen was the most fun). The return of Lycia Naff as Sonia Gomez was delightful, and I loved that we got to spend a bit more time with Kira, Quark, Bashir and Garak. I love post-TNG pre-PIC Riker and Troi and it was very satisfying to see/hear them in the season one finale, but I wish Marina Sirtis could have returned as Troi in season two as well.

 

[Michael]

For my own picks I went with Armin Shimerman, Nana Visitor, Max Grodénchik, Chase Masterson, Andrew J. Robinson and Alexander Siddig — because as a Niner those cameos just had the greatest emotional impact on me. “Hear All, Trust Nothing” (where they revisit DS9) and “Parth Ferengi's Heart Place“ (where they revisit Ferenginar) were perfect in how they tapped into Deep Space Nine nostalgia and made you feel like revisiting those places and people one more time. Also, moreso than many of the other cameos the Deep Space Nine ones felt really true to their live action counterparts for some reason. What I mean is, I was equally happy to have Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang reprise their roles, but they just didn’t quite feel like Paris and Kim to me for whatever reason.

The other ones I chose are Shannon Fill (mostly because the whole behind-the-scenes story of how Mike McMahan managed to contact her and get her out of retirement for that brief appearance), Brent Spiner (whose purple Data on Lower Decks felt more like the original TNG Data than either movie Data or Picard Data ever did), and Jolene as T‘Pol (who was very on point in her role and just a joy to hear getting into acting again). It might be recency bias, but it’s so nice to see that many fans seem to agree about how nice it was to have Jolene back in the role after twenty years. She’s currently leading the poll.

—

It just occurred to me that this is also a good opportunity to ask for which legacy actor you would have wanted to see guest star on the show before it ended. That one thread the other day made it seem like William Shatner was pretty high on people’s lists. Although I personally would have liked to have one (or all) of the rest of the Deep Space Nine cast reprise their roles: Avery Brooks, Colm Meany, Cirroc Lofton, Nicole de Boer or Terry Farrell. With the latter I wonder if for the penultimate episode they had originally envisioned to have Jadzia in the place of Curzon on the Anaximander, but weren’t able to get her for one reason or another.

Having either Ethan Phillips or Robert Picardo appear on Lower Decks would have been great as well, since their comedic talents would have provided for a natural fit on the show.

 

[Michael]

After doing some of my own research I found out there are actually even more legacy Trek actors returning for a role on Lower Decks than I originally realized. I’ve decided to add them to the poll after all, which skews the results and isn’t ideal, but better than leaving them out entirely. The poll is set so that people can change their votes at all times; so everyone is free to add these folks to their picks if they so desire. I mean, we can’t leave people like Mary Chieffo, Ken Mitchell and Kurtwood Smith off of this list!

These additions include:
Mary Chieffo — K‘Elarra
Kenneth Mitchell — Tweerk captain (+more)
Kurtwood Smith — Imperium Magistrate Clar
Debra Wilson — Z‘oto
Sam Witwer — Malor / Sir Legnog
Stephen Root — Gene Jakobowski
Al Rodrigo — Captain Durango

Note: There’s also four additional actors I found that all voiced multiple characters on Lower Decks after performing on other Trek productions, but were harder for me to rationalize as “legacy actors”: Kari Wahlgren, Eric Bauza, Nolan North and Merrin Dungey.

 

[Sumire]

I voted for Jolene as T’Pol as she was always my one-in-a-million wish. Seeing I could vote for more, I chose Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane because I love her and I loved how they utilized her character in another universe.

I also added Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris/Nick Locarno because of my devotion to Voyager and “The Delta Flyers” and because he seemed to be having a blast. However, I agree with you @Michael, I also didn’t think he seemed very Tom Paris-y (then again, Tom Paris seemed like a family man by the end and we saw him without B’Elanna or Miral so that may account for it).

I didn’t choose Garrett Wang as Harry Kim because I wasn’t all that happy with two pip Kim blithely destroying all universes. I’m sure Garrett had great fun playing all the Kims, and I loved seeing all of them, but Harry Kim is a sweetheart and despite his eternal ingénue role upsetting some (including Garrett) and inciting others to view him as some sort of loser, I genuinely like good-hearted, dutiful Harry Kim and seeing him go bananas wasn’t my cup of tea.

 

[Lady Mondegreen]

Andrew Robinson as Garak is probably the return that made me personally the happiest, but I think Jeffrey Combs as AGIMUS was the best performance out of these. Every line delivery was hilarious.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Lily because I would have never guessed it in a million years.

Pretty much all of the finale cameo's were absolutely spot on though.

 

[RPOW0614]

I was gob-smacked when Lilly showed up, what a wonderfully awesome, random cameo. But not as much as when T'Pol spoke and there was no doubt it was Jolene. I'm an ENT fan and to see (hear) her her back on Trek was just great.

Honorable mention to Garret Wang and all of the Kims, LOL.
KIM!.. KIM!..KIM!...

 

[gweeps]

T'Pol was a real surprise. But Harry Kim felt like closer for an underappreciated Star Trek character.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Combs' Agimus was by far the most fun, but bringing back Shannon Fill was perhaps the best use of a legacy character. It pushed the story forward and resolved unanswered questions in a satisfying way.

 

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Takei. Any time they can get someone from all the way back in TOS, I'm happy.